31DC2013: Day 20 - Water Marble

Hi there guys!! Oh water marbling, why you so hard? That being said this is probably the best water marble I've done (just because there was always something going majorly wrong in my previous attempts). But it was not a completely smooth process. I used Simple Little Pleasure's Watermelon Marble tutorial, quite clearly I didn't follow it exactly as her's look a million trillion times better. Colette is beyond amazing at water marbling, I just watch her videos to see her perfect marbles form. And then do it myself for the same things to NOT happen haha :P

When I finished the marble I thought it was a major fail, and it was my fault the tape was covering a little bit of the nail and I didn't realise as I was careless and didn't check. Quite clearly there is more rind than actual melon. You don't know how the black dots saved it, and I could've added more dots but by then I actually liked the design and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I really like the colours, so in the end I was happy with this marble.
My favourite nail is my index, which was actually the first nail I did, clearly things went downhill from there. As my index finger is the only one where you can see a watermelon resemblance.

Oh the water marbling problems, they never end do they? My water was probably too cold (didn't leave it overnight :/), and though the polish would spread, it wasn't making a nice target shape, it was kind of lopsided.
I also couldn't draw nice patterns, the polish was doing weird things, like the random pink lines on my nails. I like them but they weren't intended, it's cause the pink blob of polish just moved when it wasn't meant to if you get me. And if I did draw a nice design, I wouldn't dunk my nail into the right part of the design, so the nice part would end up on the tape and not my nail -_- Unfortunately marbling uses a lot of polish which is why even if a nail went wrong I kept it, as dropping the polish in is already wasting it as most of it won't go on your nails.
In my previous marbles where things would go majorly wrong, I could at least see potential in the patterns drawn, I don't see it this time. I guess I researched better the last two times, I do want to get more practice and one day have a gorgeous marble.
The last time I marbled was last August, so I'm definitely out of practice as marbling just isn't something I do often. The first time I marbled was for this challenge, this attempt here is definitely better than then.

White base and white: Barry M - Matt White
Dark Green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black
Neon Green: China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard
Pink: OPI - Charged Up Cherry
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day, see you next time!! :)

Pink Water Marble

I had to try water marbling again whilst some of my nail polishes are still new. The problem was that I was rushed when water marbling cause I had to go out and I had already began taping up my fingers, so SPEED WATER MARBLING. Therefore making a person more careless and if I messed up a design I'd be dunking my finger in anyway. I started with 2 coats of Models Own - Snow White (best name ever for a white nail polish) and a really cute cup with unicorns and castles on it.

My right hand turned out better than obviously (my right hand always turns out better :/) but I still think it's a fair attempt.
Pale pink: The Face Shop - PK105
Rosy pink: Essie - Your Hut Or Mine?
Hot pink: OPI - Charged Up Cherry
My water was almost room temperature (on the cold side) so the colours were spreading. Helpful that the first drop sank to the bottom, but that was because I dropped it in from too high.

I just couldn't draw my designs, when I drew something it would just break apart. Like my middle finger, what was that? Even though my ring finger had a seriously weird design on it, I think it's really cool. The Face Shop pink is my lot darker but I like the colour that came out. And Charged Up Cherry looked darker on my left hand.

Since taping was rushed I didn't do a very good job, covering over my nail. This applies more to my right hand though.

I realised the problem with my left hand was The Face Shop - PK105, it was just not the right texture. But I had OPI - Japanese Rose Garden on standby. That polish was seriously made for water-marbling and Charged Up Cherry too. The Essie one was good too. It has also once again rekindled my love for Charged Up Cherry.

Even though blue is my favourite colour, nail polish or otherwise. It's pink nail polish that sucks me in, if there's a stand I'll automatically be drawn to the pink nail polish. Maybe it's from childhood, loving pink. In my collection I have the most pink nail polish, some very similar to others. I have to stop buying pink nail polish.

The right was more successful simply because of better spreading, I did 2 nails in one go cause I was rushed, not that difficult. Made me realise that water marbling does waste a lot of polish.

My thumb's worth showing, my other thumb is not, there was a hole and I tried to patch it up but I failed.

With my right hand I taped up so badly that so much white was showing and I had to patch up a lot, some better patched up than others. Some you can't tell, and some you really can.

I didn't really have nightmare experiences that some people do, but I didn't have a perfect experience either. My 2nd attempt turned out much better than the first. I read some people saying that the time and effort for water marbling isn't worth the outcome, and some people thinking it's cool. I'm kind of on the fence about this one, I'm not sure. Maybe when I can't think of what to do with my nails, I'll water marble, but I definitely prefer simple painting and nail art.

Oh gosh, I ramble -_-

31 Day Challenge - Day 20 - Water Marbled

This is a long post guys, just a warning… :P This was my first water marbling attempt. I was ready for water marbling… Until I looked up some tips and heard the horror stories, of the polish not spreading, the time and waste, the water marbles that got messed up etc. The list went on and on. I still proceeded.

I unfortunately forgot to leave some water overnight; therefore the water was too cold. But I work with what I’ve got.  Otherwise I was over prepared, I made sure I had my equipment ready and nothing was forgotten. My white nail polish is a gloopy disaster, so my base colour had to be mint (China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint). It’s pastel and light so that’s what I used.

I had my water in a muller rice cup with my three polishes ready to go.

Left Hand

Colours:

Pink: No7 – Me! Me! Me!

Blue: Revlon – Dreamer

Green Blue: Topshop – Green Room

When the first drop actually spread (you’ll be hearing a lot about polish spreading. Or not in my case), I already thought things were already looking good. By the time I got to the fourth drop… It didn’t spread; I continued to make my design.

My second nail was the same story of Green Room not spreading and just going on anyway.

Do you see Dreamer? Yeah neither do I. I changed the polishes after. Those colours were giving me random blob shapes. I thought they were ok, but time to move on.

Colours:

Pink: OPI – Japanese Rose Garden

Orange: Bourjois – Tangerine Fatal

Yellow: w7 – Sheer Lemon

I tried Essie Lilacism and Turquoise and Caicos, but it was far too sheer and I used the other colours (listed above) over it.

Middle finger failed, and same went for the ring finger I drew my design badly for that nail and it showed. My pinky nail worked until when I was cleaning up the polish I smacked the toothpick into that nail and that created a dent and the excess polish went on the nail too. Turns out Sheer Lemon really is sheer.

The amount of times the polish just wouldn’t spread or the toothpick would lift all the polish off making me have to start again and again. I failed my left hand but I was kind of proud of my first attempt at water marbling. It smelt awful, I understood what people said about waste, so much polish not used. Since I’d failed my left hand I was determined to do my right hand right.

Right hand

Colours:

Pink: OPI – Japanese Rose Garden

Purple: Barry M – Berry Ice Cream

Light Pink: Chilli Pepper – Light Pink (no name)

Japanese Rose Garden really was the star, so I kept using that; SO many polishes just wouldn’t spread. I tested so many, that was my main problem. Finding colours that actually spread on the water, it was so hard to guess which ones would. Some would spread but it would be far too sheer, a white base would’ve been better but if it doesn’t show up on the mint it won’t be great on white. Looking at my collection I couldn’t see many that I thought would spread. New nail polish is the time for water marbling. 

Now THAT is more like it. I really like every finger apart from my ring finger. There’s a random hole in it!!! I used w7 Golden Sands for my index finger but it wouldn’t spread that well, but it worked for that finger, it might be my favourite of them all. I loved the pinky, I really just wanted to finish by that point but it turned out really cool. Thank goodness. The light pink from Chilli Pepper spread amazing, even though it’s completely sheer. I thought the orange from there would work the same. It kind of did but left a hole, so I went back to my winning combination, listed above. Once I realized that combination worked, that was it I stuck to it.

I found clean up pretty good. As long as you tape up your fingers well, you’re good to go.

Even after the frustration and effort of water marbling. I would definitely do it again, its fun and so many different colours and patterns to try. Of course when I get new nail polish, the spreading issue really was the bane of my water marbling existence.

Equipment used:

Toothpicks (many toothpicks)